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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bite.

To cut into something by clamping the teeth.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/baɪt/
  1. To cut into something by clamping the teeth.

    transitive
    As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is.
  2. To hold something by clamping one's teeth.

    transitive
  3. To attack with the teeth.

    intransitive
    That dog is about to bite!
  4. To behave aggressively; to reject advances.

    intransitive
    If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite.
  5. To take hold; to establish firm contact with.

    intransitive
    I needed snow chains to make the tires bite.
  6. To have significant effect, often negative.

    intransitive
    For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite.
  7. To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught.

    intransitive
    Are the fish biting today?
  8. To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor.

    figuratively · intransitive
    I've planted the story. Do you think they'll bite?
  9. To sting.

    intransitive · transitive
    These mosquitoes are really biting today!
  10. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent.

    intransitive
    It bites like pepper or mustard.
  11. To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure.

    figuratively · sometimes · transitive
    Pepper bites the mouth.
  12. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.

    intransitive
  13. To take or keep a firm hold.

    intransitive
    The anchor bites.
  14. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to.

    transitive
    The anchor bites the ground.
  15. To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck.

    slang · stative
    This music really bites.
  16. To perform oral sex on. Used in invective.

    informal · transitive · vulgar
    You don't like that I sat on your car? Bite me.
  17. To plagiarize, to imitate.

    intransitive · slang
    He always be biting my moves.
  18. To deceive or defraud; to take in.

    obsolete · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Faroese and Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).

noun/baɪt/
  1. The act of biting.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The wound left behind after having been bitten.

    countable · uncountable
    That snake bite really hurts!
  3. The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting.

    countable · uncountable
    After just one night in the jungle I was covered with mosquito bites.
  4. A piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting; a mouthful.

    countable · uncountable
    There were only a few bites left on the plate.
  5. Something unpleasant.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  6. An act of plagiarism.

    countable · slang · uncountable
    That song is a bite of my song!
  7. A small meal or snack.

    countable · uncountable
    a bite to eat
    I'll have a quick bite to quiet my stomach until dinner.
  8. incisiveness, provocativeness, exactness.

    figuratively · uncountable
  9. Aggression.

    figuratively · uncountable
  10. The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.

    countable · uncountable
  11. A cheat; a trick; a fraud.

    colloquial · countable · dated · uncountable
  12. A sharper; one who cheats.

    colloquial · countable · dated · slang · uncountable
  13. A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.

    countable · uncountable
  14. A cut, a proportion of profits; an amount of money.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  15. Ellipsis of sound bite.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
  16. The turn that a spin bowler imparts to a pitch.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Faroese and Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.